Groom-to-be helps rescue stricken yacht off Irish coast days before his wedding

A groom-to-be was part of a lifeboat crew which was deployed to aid a yacht which got into difficulty off the Irish coast in the early hours of this Friday.

Two people had to be rescued after the 40ft yacht began taking on water off the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork shortly after 3.30am.

The alarm was raised at 3.40am and the Courtmacsherry RNLI all weather lifeboat was dispatched to aid the yacht which was in danger of sinking after encountering severe issues with water intake after losing power during challenging sea conditions. 

The Coastguard was alerted via beacon signal after an Epirb (emergency position indicating beacon) was activated that someone was in difficulty leading to an immediate search of the area.

Upon discovering the yacht at around 5am, the volunteer lifeboat crew, led by Coxswain Ken Cashman assessed the situation.

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They say a decision was made to tow the stricken yacht back to shore while pumping water out along the way to prevent any chance of sinking. Assistance was received from an 85ft fishing boat full of good samaritans nearby who helped with the radio communications.

The yacht was carefully brought back to the port of Courtmacsherry, around 50km south west of Cork City, by the lifeboat arriving around 9:30am.

No injuries were reported from the incident with everyone returning to land safely. 

The Courtmacsherry RNLI lifeboat station crew members who were quickly on hand to deal with the emergency

The Vessel was travelling from France to Ireland before getting into major difficulty in the rough sea conditions around 21 miles south of the head of Kinsale.

A spokesperson for Courtmacsherry RNLI said it was a dramatic start for crewman Ian McCarthy who was experiencing his first full callout just a week before he's set to get married.

Ian is keeping his family tradition alive as his father Cally was part of the lifeboat crew which braved atrocious weather conditions in the famous Fastnet Race rescue which happened 46 years ago this week in 1979. 

Commenting on this Friday's rescue mission, Brian O'Dwyer, station voluntary operations manager said: "It was great to have 16 of our lifeboat crew and officers arrive so quickly from their beds early this morning to partake in a dramatic rescue that was activated by the success of an Epirb being set off at sea which alerted the authorities." 

It's been busy week for the Courtmacsherry station ahead of the August bank holiday weekend as crew members came to the aid of nine people on Thursday across multiple callouts.

Earlier in the week, Courtmacsherry RNLI lifeboat station members accepted the Courtmacsherry festival recognition of 2025 for services to the community marking the station's 200th anniversary.